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It was a Friday night and young people were doing what they've done for centuries —socializing at a dance.

What made the dance on Oct. 15 in Hyattsville different is that the boys were dancing with the boys, and the girls were dancing with girls. It was the third dance organized by the Youth Equality Project, the user-friendly name of the Prince George's County Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning Youth Task Force.

"The dance was fun, we had a great time," said Brittany Brown, 19, of Suitland, who said she is a lesbian. "It's just nice to have a place to go where you can be who you are."

It was the third dance the task force has organized since it was founded in 2007. There were only eight people who attended the first dance in January of this year, but there have been 25 or more at the two subsequent dances.

Organizers said that there is a need in Prince George's County for more events and resources for LGBTQ youth.

"Prince George's County is where the need is greatest," said Amena Johnson, director of programs for Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit that works with LGBTQ youth. "In Washington, D.C., there are other options for these youth, but in Prince George's County, there are no other options."

SMYAL is one of those options in Washington, D.C., but there is also a gay community center and nonprofits, such as the Parents, Friends and Family of Lesbians and Gays that have chapters there and stage events for youth.

The Court Appointed Special Advocates of Prince George's County was the driving force behind creating the task force, said its executive director Ann Marie Binsner.

"About 20 percent of our youth are identifying as lesbian, or gay, or questioning their sexuality," Binsner said. "Certainly some of our youth can't go home because they're lesbian or gay. They have had to leave foster homes that they thought were going to be their permanent homes because they're lesbian or gay."

Binsner said the task force has 14 different organizations that regularly attend monthly meetings.

Binsner said the task force seeks to provide a LGBTQ youth resource guide, train people about LGBTQ issues and collect data to help influence laws and policies on behalf of LGBTQ youth.

The task force influenced the 2008 Group Home Bill of Rights law, which requires that all residents in group homes receive a copy of their rights, including being allowed to wear clothing opposite of their gender. The law also requires that people cannot be denied services because they are gay.

In addition to training foster parents, Binsner said they also train teachers and others who work with youth in the county.

"There are foster parents who say, straight out, ‘I don't want to deal with that, I can't deal with that in my home,'" Binsner said. "It would be my hope that some day that will eliminate a person from being a foster parent, because you don't know when a child comes into their home, necessarily, if they are questioning their sexuality."

Greenbelt resident Andrea Khoury, a staff attorney with the American Bar Association, helps trains people on behalf of the task force.

"This is really new territory. There are not a lot of other places that have a task force like this," Khoury said. "This isn't a gay agenda. It's that there are gay kids, and they're being abused, and they're being harassed and discriminated in their schools. We have to stop that because they're our kids."

ksain@gazette.net

Prince George's County LGBTQ Youth Task Force

How it makes a difference: The task force is dedicated to providing resources to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth in Prince George's County and training those who support them. Contact Ann Marie Binsner at 301-209-0491.

ON THE WEB

Youth Equality Project LGBTQ Resource Guide

http://pgcasa.org/

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lgbtqresourceguide.pdf